CIL Dialogues
An International Law Blog
CIL Dialogues is the re-imagination of the existing blog of the Centre for International Law (CIL) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The editorial team’s approach to CIL Dialogues reflects two shared commitments. First, we share a generalist perspective of international law, viewed as raising shared foundational questions across specialised fields, institutions, regions, and inquiries. Secondly, we are appreciative that CIL Dialogues is not based in (the virtual space of), or associated with institutions in the ‘Western European and Others States Group’. The blog will therefore be interested in international law broadly conceived and seek to be attentive to regional perspectives to questions of universal and general relevance, particularly relating to Asia Pacific, as well as the views and voices that may have been traditionally excluded. More...
Featured Blog
Missed opportunities: WIPO Treaty falls short of protecting Traditional Knowledge
by Kriti Sharma
On May 24, 2024, twenty five years of negotiations culminated in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Diplomatic Conference adopting its first treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and associated Traditional Knowledge (“the treaty”). Developed as a conciliatory effort of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (WIPO IGC), this instrument was drafted by former Chair Ian Goss in 2019. Read on ...
Featured Symposium
Gravity at the International Criminal Court
INTRODUCTORY BLOG
Published on 6 August 2024
Gravity at the International Criminal Court: An Introduction
by Priya Urs
I began thinking about the selectivity of the investigation and prosecution of international crimes in 2014, when I worked with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission to strengthen its role in monitoring human rights violations across the country. In reality, the Commission was often dealing with allegations of international crimes. My colleagues at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law worked in not dissimilar contexts: Cambodia, Colombia, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan and other parts of the world where people had suffered or continued to suffer as a result of armed conflict or other forms of violence. It was impossible to ignore the contrast between the sheer geographical scope of allegations of relevant conduct and the relatively limited capacity for their investigation and prosecution, whether before international or national criminal courts.
CIL is pleased to welcome Ms Angela Lim as Personal Assistant to Director. Angela served as the Secretary to the Director at NUS Alumni Office from 2003-2009 before she joined the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Asia-Pacific as an Administrative Manager where she was also involved in organizing conferences and master classes …
CIL is pleased to welcome Dr Ayelet Berman as Senior Research Fellow with the Investment Law and Policy team. Before joining CIL, Ayelet was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the NUS Faculty …
A conference report on the CIL International Conference on High Seas Governance is now ready for download in PDF format. CIL Report HS Governance Conference 12 May Final For more information about the conference and conference presentations, please click here.
CIL is seeking students to serve as Student Research Assistants for two different projects. Shortlisted applicants will be called for an interview. For more information and for application procedure, please click here.
CIL is pleased to welcome Ms Dafina Atanasova as Research Associate with the Investment Law and Policy team. Dafina Atanasova holds an LLM in International Business Law from King’s College London, a master’s degree from the University of Versailles and a bachelor’s degree from Paris 2 University, Panthéon-Assas. She is currently completing her PhD at …
The Centre for International Law held its inaugural staff retreat on 31 March 2017, Friday. The retreat was opened by CIL’s Director Professor Lucy Reed and attended by close to 30 members of the CIL family. The discussions focused on the Centre’s future plans and work programmes in its core areas of research, namely Oceans …
CIL is pleased to welcome Miss Loo Jing Xi, Gloria as Research Associate with the ASEAN Law and Policy team at the Centre for International Law. Gloria Loo graduated in 2016 with an LLM (specialising in International & Comparative Law) from the National University of Singapore. At the graduate level, she studied a range of …
CIL is pleased to welcome Miss Soh Gek Han as Publications Manager at the Centre for International Law. Gek Han graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor degree in history and has worked in academic publishing since. She was previously the copyeditor of the Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography.
CIL is pleased to welcome Miss Millicent McCreath as Research Associate with the Ocean Law and Policy team at the Centre for International Law. Millicent graduated in 2015 with an LLM in Law of the Sea from the University of Tromsø, Norway’s Arctic University. While at Tromsø, Millicent specialised in polar law and the protection …
On 20 January 2017, CIL Governing Board Chairman Prof Tommy Koh delivered a speech at the SBF-Amcham Post-US Election Seminar, held at Keppel Towers, Singapore. To view Prof Koh’s speech in PDF, click here.
On 18 January 2017, CIL Governing Board Chairman Prof Tommy Koh delivered a speech at the occasion of the Conferment of the JC Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development on Dr Cheong Koon Hean, held at the Fullerton Hotel, Singapore. To view Prof Koh’s speech in PDF, click here.
The Centre for International Law (CIL) organised the 18th session of the Fireside Chat Series on International Law and Diplomacy on Friday, 10 February 2017. The hosts, Professor S Jayakumar and Professor Tommy Koh, and two guests, Professor Robert Beckman and Dr Hao Duy Phan, spoke about the conciliation between Timor-Leste and Australia under the …
The Centre for International Law (CIL) organised a Conference on ‘The South China Sea Award: The Legal Dimension’ on 5-6 January 2017 at the Regent Hotel, Singapore. The Conference brought together the world’s leading law of the sea experts to discuss the legal reasoning and findings in the Award on issues such as jurisdiction, historic …
CIL International Conference: The South China Sea Award: The Legal Dimension Read More »
CIL is pleased to welcome Miss Ashley Yeo Hwee Tian as the Assistant Manager for Finance at the Centre for International Law. Ashley graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor degree in Accountancy and worked at Deloitte Singapore for two years before leaving as an Audit Senior.
CIL is pleased to welcome Ms Xu Muzi as a Research Assistant at the Centre for International Law. Muzi graduated with an LL.B. (Hons.) from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. She specialised in private shipping law (Admiralty Law, Carriage of Goods by Sea and commercial shipping law). She has completed internships and vacation programs …
CIL is pleased to welcome Mr Jan Jakub Solski as a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Law from December 2016 to July 2017. Jan Jakub Solski is a PhD Research Fellow at the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, University of Tromsø – the Arctic University of Norway. Jan holds …
On 2 December 2016, the Centre for International Law (CIL), ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) successfully co-organised a Workshop on Treaty Management in International Organisations: Lessons Learnt and ASEAN Practice. The Workshop, which took place in the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, was attended by nearly 70 representatives of the …
The Centre for International Law is pleased to announce the successful conclusion to the Singapore International Arbitration Academy 2016, which took place on 2 to 8 November 2016. Fifty government officials, legal academics and private practitioners were put through an intense and stimulating 7-day programme which blended together theory with substantive and procedural law of …
Successful conclusion to the Singapore International Arbitration Academy 2016 Read More »
CIL has moved to a new office location on the NUS Bukit Timah Campus. Our new office address is: Centre for International Law (CIL) National University of Singapore, Bukit Timah Campus 469A Bukit Timah Road, Tower Block, #09-01 Singapore 259770. Our office numbers remain unchanged. You may contact us at +65 6516 4101 (telephone) and …
CIL Research Fellow, Ms. Denise Cheong; ESI Research Fellow, Dr Monique Taylor; and CIL Research Associate, Ms. S Nivedita who are part of the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project’s multidisciplinary team attended this year’s International School of Nuclear Law (ISNL). ISNL, in continuing its unique contribution to the field of nuclear law, held its 2016 summer …
The Centre for International Law (CIL), the Law of the Sea Institute, Berkeley (LOSI) and the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) hosted an international conference on Marine Environmental Protection in Asia: Regional Implementation of IMO Conventions, on 30 – 31 August 2016 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore. H.E. Mr Kitack …
CIL is delighted to welcome Mr. N. Jansen Calamita as the Centre’s Principal Research Fellow. He will also be appointed as Research Associate Professor at the NUS Faculty of Law with effect from 1 January 2017. Prior to taking up an academic career, Mr. Calamita served in the Office of the Legal Adviser in the …
On 14 July 2016, two days after the Arbitral Tribunal established under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the Philippines v. China case rendered its Final Award, CIL held a Fireside Chat session to examine the decision. Hosted by Professor S Jayakumar and Professor Tommy Koh, …
CIL Fireside Chat on the Award on Merits of the Arbitral Tribunal Read More »
CIL is delighted to welcome Professor Gunther Handl as a Senior Project Consultant under the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project, which is a research project being undertaken by CIL and the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) with funding from Singapore’s National Research Foundation, as part of the Singapore Government’s Nuclear Policy Research Programme. Professor Handl is the …
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The Centre for International Law (CIL) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) jointly organised the IAEA Sub-Regional Workshop on Nuclear Law for Member States in the Asia and Pacific Region from 13th to 17th June 2016 at University Town …
CIL is delighted to welcome Nivedita as a Research Associate under the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project, which is a research grant secured by CIL and the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) from the National Research Foundation as part of the Singapore Government’s Nuclear Policy Research Programme. Nivedita holds an Advanced Masters of Law in Public International …
CIL is delighted to welcome Anthony Wetherall as a Senior Research Fellow under the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project, which is a research grant secured by CIL and the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) from the National Research Foundation as part of the Singapore Government’s Nuclear Policy Research Programme. Anthony has some fifteen years of nuclear law …
CIL is pleased to announce that H.E. Arif Havas Oegroseno, a member of CIL’s International Advisory Panel and Deputy Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Resources of Indonesia, has been nominated as a judge to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) by the government of the Republic of Indonesia. ITLOS is …
H.E. Arif Havas Oegroseno Nominated as Judge to ITLOS Read More »
Having completed the first drafts of papers in its project exploring the concept of a multilateral appellate mechanism for investor-State dispute settlement; and in light of the public release of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, and the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement – both of which include the EU’s proposed new first instance …
Report on the CIL Investment Treaty Appellate Mechanism Research Project Workshop Read More »
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Signing Ceremony The Centre for International Law (CIL) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) received a three-year research grant from the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) supported by the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) to establish the CIL-MPA Oceans Governance Research Programme. Research activities under the programme will focus on three areas: Arctic shipping governance; …
CIL Non-resident Fellow Captain J. Ashley Roach was the first recipient of the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) Maritime Research Fellowship, a government-funded programme that aims to develop capabilities within Singapore’s Institutes of Higher Learning for maritime research. Under this programme, Capt Roach assisted Singapore in its new role after having been granted permanent observer status …
CIL’s Capt Roach Receives the First SMI Research Fellowship Read More »
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The Energy Studies Institute (ESI) and the Centre for International Law (CIL) have secured a research grant from Singapore’s National Research Foundation to do research in the area of nuclear law and policy as part of the Singapore Government’s Nuclear Policy Research Programme. As its inaugural outreach event, ESI and CIL jointly held a seminar …
ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project’s Inaugural Outreach Event Read More »
In light of the recent United Nations General Assembly mandate to develop an internationally legally binding instrument under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to deal with the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, a term that is frequently referred to as BBNJ, …
CIL is delighted to welcome Hadyu Ikrami as a Research Associate at CIL. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Indonesia. Prior to joining CIL, he trained at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where he assisted …
The 16th session of the CIL Fireside Chat Series, held on 15 January 2016 at the NUS Bukit Timah Campus, examined the Award on Jurisdiction in the Arbitration between the Philippines and China and discussed the implications of the Award on the South China Sea disputes. Hosted by Professor S Jayakumar and Professor Tommy Koh, …
Past Event – 16th session of CIL Fireside Chat Series Read More »
CIL is delighted to welcome Christine Sim as a Research Associate at the Centre for International Law. Christine completed her LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) at the Graduate Institute and the University of Geneva in Switzerland after obtaining her LLB at the National University of Singapore. She specialised in dispute resolution focussing on public …
CIL is delighted to welcome Seraphina Chew as a Research Assistant at the Centre for International Law. Seraphina completed her LL.B with a 2nd (Upper) Honours at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she was awarded the Blackstone Chambers Prize for Human Rights (2013/2014). She also represented LSE at the Willem C. Vis International …
In its annual resolution on oceans and law of the sea in 2015, the UN General Assembly recognised the important contribution of the Rhodes Academy of Ocean Law and Policy to capacity-building in the field of law of the sea. The Rhodes Academy is a three-week course held annually that aims to bring together distinguished …
The NUS Centre for International Law (CIL) and the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea (JCLOS) of the UiT The Arctic University of Norway jointly organised the ‘Governance of Arctic Shipping – Balancing Rights and Interests of Arctic States and User States’ International Conference, which was held from 9-11 December 2015 in Singapore. …
CIL-JCLOS International Conference on Governance of Arctic Shipping Read More »
CIL is pleased to announce the successful run of the 2015 Singapore International Arbitration Academy from 18 to 29 November 2015 at the NUS Bukit Timah Campus in Singapore. Its 11-day intensive programme blended together theory, substantive and procedural law, and skills training in the field of investor-State arbitration and attracted more than 40 participants …
Successful Run of the 2015 Singapore International Arbitration Academy Read More »
CIL was a Conference Partner of the 5th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law 2015 (AsianSIL), which was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 26-27 November 2015. The theme of the Conference was “International Law and the Changing Economic & Political Landscape in Asia”. CIL Director Robert Beckman chaired a panel on the …
CIL a Conference Partner of 5th AsianSIL Biennial Conference Read More »
The NUS Centre for International Law (CIL) and the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea (JCLOS) of the UiT The Arctic University of Norway will be jointly organising the ‘Governance of Arctic Shipping – Balancing Rights and Interests of Arctic States and User States’ International Conference to be held from 9-11 December 2015 …
CIL-JCLOS International Conference on Governance of Arctic Shipping Read More »
Elsa Sardinha is a Research Associate at the Centre for International Law, focusing on the Centre’s International Investment Law and International Dispute Resolution programmes. She also assists Mr J. Christopher Thomas QC as a Practice Fellow on international investment arbitrations and commercial arbitrations. Before joining the Centre, Elsa worked as Legal Counsel at the London …
CIL is delighted to welcome Ms Anjali Sugadev as a Research Assistant. She will work with Prof Beckman and the Oceans Law and Policy team. Anjali completed her Bachelor of Laws from Bangalore University, India. Her academic accomplishments include securing ten gold medals in her college for scholastic excellence. She was also accorded the Best …
CIL is pleased to announce that Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, and Chair of the CIL Governing Board, delivered a speech on 19 October 2015 in Beijing, China as the Leader of the Singapore Delegation to the S on “China’s Comprehensive Reforms and the Building of an Inclusive Asian Community of …
Prof Tommy Koh Delivers Speech at 10th China-Singapore Forum Read More »
CIL is delighted to welcome Shaun Kang as a Research Associate in the Centre’s Ocean Law and Policy and International Dispute Resolution research programmes. Shaun holds an LL.M. from the National University of Singapore (specialising in International and Comparative Law). He graduated with an LL.B. (Hons.) from the University of Reading. While completing his degree, …
Professor Walter Woon delivered the David Marshall Lecture on “Building the Rules-Based ASEAN Community: Strengthening the Centre” on 13 November 2015 on the NUS Bukit Timah Campus. The ASEAN Charter, A Commentary by Professor Walter Woon, published by NUS Press, was launched in conjunction with the David Marshall Lecture. Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign …
CIL is pleased to announce that Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, and Chair of the CIL Governing Board, delivered the Biennial Lecture 2015 on “Singapore and International Law” at the Law Society of Singapore’s SG50 Double Bill (Biennial Lecture 2015/Annual CPD Day 2015) on Thursday, 8 October 2015. The objective of …
Prof Tommy Koh Delivers Biennial Lecture 2015 on “Singapore and International Law””” Read More »
CIL is pleased to announce that Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, and Chair of the CIL Governing Board, delivered a keynote speech titled “Keeping The Straits of Malacca and Singapore Safe and Clean: A Triumph For Cooperation” at the 8th Co-operation Forum, which addressed key issues relating to ?the Straits of …
Prof Koh Delivers Keynote Speech at 8th Co-operation Forum Read More »